December 24, 2013

Nigerian pilgrims wait inside the Church of the Nativity, the site revered as the birthplace of Jesus, during Christmas celebrations in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

Ruben Torres, dressed in a Santa Claus outfit, waves to people from a boat with fishermen on Christmas Eve, along the coast of Valparaiso city, about 121 km (75 miles) northwest of Santiago, Chile.

A participant releases a sky lantern during the "Kapulica & Lanterns" event in Zagreb, Croatia, Dec. 23, 2013. The event, organized by contemporary artist Kresimir Tadija Kapulica as part of the ArtOmat Fair ahead of Christmas, involves people releasing about 1,000 lanterns to symbolize sending wishes to the universe.

A Buddhist monk shields himself from police officers during a protest in front of the City Hall in central Phnom Penh, Cambodia. About 100 former Boeung Kak lake residents, including Buddhist monks, demanded that the government provide them with more compensation over their forced eviction from the area, to pave way for a private real estate development project, according to protesters.

Egyptian men inspect destruction in the city of Mansura, north of Cairo, following a powerful car bomb explosion. The bombing tore through a police building in Mansura, killing at least 14 people.

Forty-Fifth Anniversary of 'Earthrise' Image - the first photograph of the distant blue Earth above the Moon taken by the Apollo 8 crew on Dec. 24, 1968

A man stands alone at London Bridge Station after numerous trains were cancelled due to storms. Disrupted transport networks and power outages wreaked havoc in Britain and France, one of the busiest travel and shopping days of the year just before Christmas, after hurricane-force winds and torrential rain lashed the region.

Parts of the roof of the Theatre Hangar are seen on the Dakota airplane after the roof was partially blown away by strong winds at the former airfield in Valkenburg, The Netherlands. The Dakota airplane is being used in the musical Soldier of Orange.

A Kurdish student protester launches fireworks against Turkish riot policemen in downtown Istanbul during an anti-government protest marking the second anniversary of a Turkish military air strike aimed at Kurdish rebels that killed 34.

Visitors' silhouettes can be detected against lights decorating trees to celebrate the upcoming Christmas and New Year, at Garden of Morning Calm in Gapyeong, South Korea.

A worker carries a roasted pig outside a store in Quezon city, north of Manila, Philippines. Roasted pig is traditionally served during a Christmas eve dinner called "Noche Buena" in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation.

Bangladeshi laborers unload coal from a boat, on the last day of a four-day blockade called by the opposition in Dhaka.